Another test: Marietta College welcomes in No. 12 John Carroll
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Marietta College is set to take on the John Carroll Blue Streaks, who are ranked 12th nationally according to d3football, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Don Drumm Stadium. This matchup is an excellent opportunity for the Pioneers to test their mettle against an OAC powerhouse.
Last week, Marietta College went on the road and beat Baldwin Wallace by a score of 42-21.
Pioneers head coach Andy Waddle gave his thoughts on the end result, "I thought our guys played really hard. We weren't perfect, but I think we made less mistakes than they made. Offensively, we ended every possession with a kick, which was huge. Defensively, I think we did a good job of limiting their run game and pressuring their quarterback. He had a lot of yards, but he never felt comfortable in the pocket."
The Pioneers limited the Yellow Jackets to just 58 yards on the ground. While BW was able to accumulate 336 yards passing on the day, the team attempted 39 passes and the yardage came at the expense of some costly turnovers.
Marietta College won the turnover battle, 3-0. Waddle described the circumstances around the takeaways and what they meant to the end result, "Lukas Ratliff came in and made a really big interception at the end of the second quarter to prevent them from scoring. That was a really big play. He got another interception later in the game when they were trying to get back into it, and that interception really stalled their efforts and stopped them.
"And then we had the big play where they had a little bit of a bad snap and our guys recovered it in the end zone, so really cool that it resulted in a defensive touchdown."
Pioneers' Bryce Agnew had himself a day, and the game against Baldwin Wallace presented a unique opportunity for him. Waddle gave his thoughts on Agnew's performance and what was so special for the running back, "Bryce is a great player, and he went back home. He played at Berea-Midpark High School, which is legitimately right outside of the stadium of BW. He had his high school games on that field, so it was really cool for him to be able to go back to his high school home field and play one last game there, have three touchdowns and 139 yards rushing.
"Just a really workmanlike day. I think a lot of his yards came in the second half. He just kinda seemed to wear them down."
Marietta College has also compiled impressive wins against Otterbein and St. John Fisher so far this year. The only loss for the Pioneers thus far came in week 3 against second-ranked Mount Union by a score of 28-0.
The John Carroll Blue Streaks are 3-0 in OAC play, with wins against Baldwin Wallace, Heidelberg and Wilmington College. Their only loss of the season came in week one against the third-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks by a score of 27-23. John Carroll won the matchup between these two squads last year, 45-10.
Waddle sees in John Carroll an opponent without any apparent flaws, "John Carroll is a talented team. I think that they are extremely well-coached. They have talent across the board really at every position. Some guys are a little bit better than others, but they just don't have any spots out there that you really feel like, 'man we can manipulate that, we can take advantage of that.' They're good pretty much across the board. I've really been impressed with their linebackers, their defensive ends, their quarterback (Joe Collins), I mean, I think he's completing almost 71% of his passes, and he's got a really nice group of receivers, number 14 (Brennan Fugh) is an especially good player. They run a few different backs in there, and all the backs that they play are fast, strong (and have) good vision. They're a really quality team."
Waddle also made sure to point out a special opportunity for fans of the Pioneers to come out and watch the team, "It's youth sport day. I think there are tickets out there for all the youth that will let them and a parent in for free, so we would love to have your youth come out and the parents come out and support the Pios."